La donna scarlatta

Monica Vitti thinks she's a good businesswoman. Then she discovers her manager/lover, Robert Hossein, has stolen her business. She flies to Paris to commit suicide, then decides on a better plan. Hossein will be in Paris on Friday. She steals a gun, planning to kill him. First, though, she tells Maurice Ronet, then vanishes from his ken. While he is searching desperately for her, she is cutting a swath among the news reporters and the British band they are interviewing.

Jean Valère's ultimately standard romantic comedy is powered in large part by Miss Vitti's moody, disinterested performance, and a set and costume design that features a lot of bright red clothes and draperies. M. Ronet also gives a fine performance as the moral young man who does not even recognize he loves this woman who invited him to lunch on the Eiffel Tower. It's a very 1960s looking movie. There's a bit of satire on the propensities of rock-and-rollers. but this is never a farcical comedy. It is, however, constantly engaging.